Tuesday, February 28, 2006

You can't tell, but the sleeves are at least an inch longer than they were yesterday. Granted, they'd be a lot longer if I hadn't totally zonked out after putting B to bed last night. I didn't get into a groove because I was waiting for the doctor to call me back with the results of my lab work. (Why couldn't a nurse tell me that my throat culture was positive for strep and I should continue the antibiotics? Did I really have to wait three hours for the doctor to call me back to tell me that?) And then the residuals of the sick and the stress just knocked me out flat. Now that the Olympic pressure is off, I'm feeling a lot less motivated. Of course, I do have the deadline of F-i-L's birthday looming. I've assuaged any panic caused by that deadline by reminding myself I have a car ride next weekend and I'll knock a lot of that baby back in no time. Is it weird that we're going to Atlantic City and I am not planning on gambling? Do you think Hubby would mind if I just sat in our hotel room and knit the whole weekend (well other than dinners and the Heart concert we're going to)? See, the delusions were not just from the glimmer of that Olympic medal.

In other news, I still have not received the orange Cork that I ordered from a large British online retailer (so they say) and an eBay seller. I did get a nice phone message last week from the British retailer apologizing profusely and claiming I'd hear something from them via e-mail. Not. The eBay seller claims the package was shipped from Canada on the February 10th and that shipping usually takes 10-14 days (I guess working days since the package is not here yet). I'm beginning to think I'm never going to finish Billy's Cheeto Ronan.

I do have some good news. B's all up to date on his vaccinations, less than one month after his well-child visit. Oh, and my company managed to find the damaged router and get us up and running again. Hey, I can do actual work. Skippee!

Monday, February 27, 2006

Fortunately, I don't have the whole of the Amercian press excoriating me for not being able to medal in my first Olympics. But, I'm still a bit disappointed. However, one cannot predetermine when one will get one's butt totally kicked by bacteria, so chin-up.

I'm still enjoying working on the sweater, and Hubby is going to have a gorgeous pullover by the end of the week. The goal is to get the knitting finished today and tomorrow and have the grafting done by Wednesday (how I was supposed to get all that done Saturday and Sunday I don't know). Then it's a bath and a debut.

You know what sucks, I’m stuck here at work unable to connect to any of our systems, not even e-mail, so I can’t do any work, but I can’t pick up those sleeves and get them finished. I have to just sit here and twiddle my thumbs.

At least I can get on the Internet. For a while this morning, I couldn't do that.

Whine whine whine.

At least I’m feeling better. I was feeling so much better last night my regular insomnia was back. I knew I was really sick when I could sleep at the drop of a hat (not to mention having to wince every time I swallowed which was a problem with a serious post-nasal drip).

Sunday, February 26, 2006

There is breaking news on this last day of the Knitting Olympics, here in the Team USA Sweater event. Knitlete Annette has had to pull out of the competition due to illness. With a low-grade fever she will not be able to finish the 50"raglan competition. She's said to be very disappointed, but plans to train harder for 2008 in Beijing.

Friday, February 24, 2006

I'm not knitting enough. I finished yesterday's six inches on the bus ride in this morning. I'm going to fall behind if I can't get 6 more inches knitted up today. Granted, I got all weirded out like I was getting a migraine last night on the way (but without the aura so who knows). I took a pill (phenobarbital/tylenol/caffeine) and a nap and got better. I guess I just didn't knit enough watching TV. I have to do better if I'm going to get the gold. There are no silvers if I pull a Sasha Cohen or Lindsey Jacobellis and fall on my rump.

The next picture I post of this thing (assuming I don't post over the weekend) should be of a completed sweater.

In other news, Hubby and I just talked ourselves out of getting another dog. I don't know what we were thinking entertaining the notion it would be a good idea to adopt a great dane.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

So far this has been an interesting visit to sleeve island. And since I've minimized the finishing by doing this baby top-down, I've got today, tomorrow and Saturday to knit the sleeves. If I save Sunday for the minimal finishing (grafting sleeves and weaving in ends at ball changes), I'll be coasting into the finish line. Of course that assumes I can knit 6" per sleeve per day as they grow to 100 stitches. Oops, almost forgot, I have to knit around the sleeve holes on the body a bit to pick up stitches and make everything all pretty. See, I've barely gotten the overconfident words out and I'm having to scale back a bit. It is going to be close, but I'm having such a good time with this two sleeves on two circs thing that I can't help but be confident.

It's stunning the way my mood has changed since Tuesday, in regards to work and life overall. I'm still a bit impatient with my boy, but I'm working on it. I just wish he'd stop wanting to wear swim trunks, slippers, or footie pajamas to day care. Then mornings would be so much easier! I don't know what we're going to do tomorrow morning. He's worn his last clean Elmo shirt.

I've started thinking about my next project. It's actually something I've been thinking about since Stitches East when I bought the yarn. we are celebrating F-i-L's birthday four weeks from Sunday. I'm thinking a zippy raglan (I've already bought the zipper). I've got three shades of Orchid Line in varying amounts. This is what I'm thinking. Note that Paint does not allow me to do an exact match (neither does the fact that the yarn is in my cellar and I did the sketch at work). I was originally thinking something a little more formula 1 driver with vertical stripes, but decided that wouldn't work for F-i-L. I'm really liking this idea. The hard part's going to be figuring out the raglan shaping. But, I'll do it.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Having used two circs before (for Dad's bucket hat, I think), I figured I'd have no problems casting on. How the H-E-double-hockey-sticks are you supposed to keep two needles and two balls of yarn from tangling while knitting in the round? I barely got cast on and a round knit last night going home before I felt all was hopeless. I didn't pick it up again until this morning on the bus in. It took me a while, but I got it going. I started to fall into a nice little rhythm as we pulled into Port Authority. I'm looking forward to making some real progress tonight.

I knit (twice) the neckband last night. No pics because it looks silly and I want to confirm that this one is more comfortable than the first (deemed too tight and too scratchy).

How is it that my 2-year-old had homework last night? Well, I had homework. He got to have a sleepover with the class's mascot. I had to write in the mascot's book about what they did. Since nothing too exciting happened and Billy didn't feel like coloring in the book, I did a photo collage.

I'm not sure how I'm handling the weaning off my anti-depressants. Billy's got a head cold and is teething. I'm PMSing and stressed about work. Last night I thought I was going to vomit from the anxiety I was feeling.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

After much knitting Sunday night and yesterday, I finished the body of my olympic effort. Whew. I didn't think I was going to make it. I had hoped to get the neckline done yesterday, too, but I had to knit a couple more inches than I thought (glad I re-checked the length by measuring Hubby). I should be able to get the neckline done tonight and then it's just sleeves and nothing but sleeves until they're done. I'll be starting the two sleeves this afternoon after I do the math (and double-check and triple-check). I'm interested to see how the grafting goes when I have them finished. I'm hoping I'll be able to get them done by Saturday, so Sunday will be grafting and tidying up the ends. I'm liking the sweatshirt-like styling we've got going on. I decided to kfb for the increases to keep it easier on me (not having to remember if it was a M1L or M1R, etc). Since this is a sweater for Hubby to wear while spectating at hockey games, the look is perfect.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

I've made much progress and am a whole ball past where I had to re-start, but I feel I'm just not knitting fast enough. I really want to separate for the sleeves today. I think I've got less than 3" to go. That way I can finish up the body tomorrow and this weekend (which will go much quicker when I'm not increasing 8 stitches every other row), including the neckline. Then next week it's sleeves. I'm going to knit them separately from the body for ease of carrying. I think I'll try two sleeves on two circs. Then I'll graft and be done. Seems feasible now, but don't check out the ticker over at anny purls. Her husband's little project had me in panic mode yesterday.

For Jeanie and Kristi, the yarn is Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed I picked up at Stitches East. Nicely discounted because the color is discontinued.

I'm also making progress here at work. It helps that I'm spending less time on the 'net. Speaking of which, got to go!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

I had made good progress on my Olympic knitting. Then I realized that I was knitting a sweater 50% too large. It would have been a 75" chest. Hubby's a pretty big guy, but he's not that big. So, I re-started yesterday. On the left is what I had completed (nearly 300 meters) on the right is what I re-started yesterday. I'm just knitting directly from the first attempt (the yarn's not too crinkled). I'm not contemplating what these means to my chances of finishing before the flame goes out. I'm just going to keep plugging along.

I'm drowning here at work. Too many meetings last week, snow day yesterday, and too much Internet put me way behind. I don't expect much blogging or blog reading until I can be sure that I'm above water a bit.

Friday, February 10, 2006

I'm in the starting blocks for the 50" raglan event, but the gun won't be going off at 2 pm. I'll cast on this evening heading home. I don't know if I'll watch any of the games themselves, but I'll follow the results.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

First is Billy with his cougar (Hubby calls it Colin). The pattern was Kate from Knitty. I used ASC in Orkney and Regal from my stash. I put an intarsia patch on it of a cougar print to represent our high school's mascot. Colin went to church with Billy on Sunday, but he's not shown much interest in him since.Next is my dad in his Zipo. Please disregard the funny look on his face; he's a wee bit silly. He claims to really like the sweater, but it's the first time I've ever seen him in it.

Last are the finished boot socks and my latest stashquisition. (Well, not really, I just won an auction for 10 balls of Cork in Delight, don't tell on me, 'kay?)

Whew. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind around here. Like I said last week, we had a good time in FL and I lost an employee. I didn't touch my computer at all while I was home with Billy last week and I had a quick jaunt down to Baltimore on Tuesday for work. I think I'm finally digging out a bit here at the office. Billy took a little time to adjust to daycare, but now he’s handling the new place like a champ. His birthday was a blast. I even got his cougar done on time. Unfortunately, Ronan is still sitting around. I have not received my order from Angel Yarns and tried striping a sleeve, but I’m not thrilled with the result. I have, however, finished Hubby’s boot socks. (Note the ASC under the socks. I’m loving the color.) I’m glad I’ve got them done before the Olympics and during a nice cold snap. I’ve also swatched for my Olympics event (50” raglan). I washed the swatches this morning and I think I’m going to be very pleased with the effect of warm water and Eucalan on Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed! Wet it seemed to bloom and get so much softer! Can’t wait to see them dry. My sisters come down to visit tomorrow. We’re celebrating Billy’s birthday with them and going to see INXS on Sunday (can I just say that JD rocked out on the new album and I’m really looking forward to seeing him live?). I hope they bring their knitting/crocheting, my sisters, not INXS. Molly may be making a trip to the vet this weekend. She came up really lame last night while running around the yard like a crazy dog. It’s the same leg she had surgery on two years ago. I hope it’s not the other ligament. She seemed to be moving a bit better this morning, so maybe it’s just a sprain. We’ve got her crated to make sure she rests. Bullies have such high pain thresholds her behavior is not a good measure of the severity of her injury.

I've got pics of the cougar and the socks and at long last my dad in his zipo, but Blogger's not letting me post the pics. I'll add them later.